The present invention relates to a conveyor for transporting lasagne and similar, flat forms of pasta through a drier, including at least one pair of parallel chains which are supported and driven by respective sprockets along a path extending through the drier from a station for the loading of the fresh pasta to a station for the discharge of the dried pasta, and a plurality of containers for the lasagne, the containers being arranged transversely between the chains and removably associated therewith for transportation along the path.
It is well known that, during the production of dry pasta, the drying is the most important stage and the most awkward to carry out. In fact, it is closely linked and correlated with the organoleptic characteristics of the pasta produced, its hygienic qualities and, not least, its preservability, that is, its shelf life. It is also known that good drying can even improve the aforementioned characteristics in comparison with those which can be expected solely on the basis of the ingredients used to produce the starting dough.
The success of a dried pasta, and not only its commercial success, can be attributed essentially to the drying stage, the techniques used and the manner in which it is carried out.
From this point of view, the continual care taken to improve the technique and the means of drying fresh pasta is perhaps taken for granted.
Amongst the variables which add to the complexity of an investigation into the best manner of and means for effecting the drying are the shape of the pasta to be dried and the manoeuvrability of such a shape during the drying.
Thus, up to now, in the case of, for example, lasagne, the best drying technique provides for the lasagne to pass through the drier lying on flat cloths or wide supporting trays in a single layer so that both of their faces are exposed to the heat-flow to an equal extent.
As is known, because the lasagne lie flat, and also because the heat treatment to which they are subjected is gentle, the lengths of the driers are generally such as to constitute a problem from the point of view of the useful, and hence expensive, space that they take up.
Moreover, the driers generally have suitable heating, temperature-control and humidity-control devices which are distributed along the drier and are operated so as to achieve experimentally-predetermined temperature and humidity curves throughout the lengths of the driers, in order to dry the fresh pasta in an optimal manner. The temperature curves are closely linked to the times for which the lasagne remain in the driers.
The temperature curve selected, the time taken, the fact that the lasagne lie flat on the cloths or trays, and the hourly production rate (which must at least be acceptable from a commercial point of view) mean that it is necessary to produce and use very bulky and, in particular, very long driers.
The space taken up, the high costs of production, operation and maintenance, and the difficulty of controlling the temperature and humidity in the drier are the most readily apparent problems related to the considerable lengths of the driers which up to now have been used at an industrial level.